The Syrian government government says attacks by Israel on Syrian civilian targets will be met with counter strikes on Israeli military bases.

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), shows the launching of a missiles, named "Joulan 1" and "Joulan 2", meaning Golan in Arabic, reffering the Syrian Golan Heights, during Syrian army maneuvers at an undisclosed location in Syria.

Israel had been intermittently attacking Syrian military targets throughout the Syrian Civil War, but that conflict has escalated dramatically in recent weeks, with Syria resisting larger Israeli strikes with anti-aircraft missiles, and Israel continuing to strike, and threatening to wipe out Syria’s air defenses outright.

Syria has a considerable cache of Scud missiles, which it acquired over the years in large part related to their ongoing arms race with Israel. Syrian officials reportedly threatened to hit military bases in northern Israel, and potentially strikes against the Haifa Port if Israel attacks civilian targets in Syria.

The threat potentially escalates growing tensions between Damascus and Jerusalem. It started on March 17th when Israeli warplanes were fired upon by Syrian surface-to-air missile sites after executing an air strike in southern Syria. The IAF had made dozens of similar bombing runs over the last five years, and have been accused of aiding terrorist groups. The Syrian anti-air missiles reportedly missed their targets but one was intercepted by an Israel Arrow anti-ballistic missile system battery.